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Families

Balancing the demands of daily life with caring for young children is a real struggle. Getting time off work is difficult and finding quality, affordable childcare can be impossible.

Liberal Democrats believe that parents should be supported so they can spend time with their young children and given more help so that quality childcare is affordable. We will support all families by introducing 19 months of paid parental leave from when a child is born and offer all parents free childcare for all children aged 18mths - 5 years.

To make life easier, we want to change the way tax credits are paid so that families can rely on them. Families should be able to sleep easy knowing that they can spend the money they receive without worrying it will be clawed back by the Treasury.

We want to fix the payments of tax credits for 6 months at a time so that payments are stable and predictable for families. At the moment an increase of a couple of hours more work can set off a chain reaction that can cause overpayments and uncertainty for months. Under our system the payments will remain the same for six months then be recalculated to take any changes into account. There will always be cases where exceptions are made such as when someone loses their job or has their hours drastically cut but a return to fixed awards will finally make the system suitable for the people who use it.

Published and promoted by and on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, 4 Cowley Street, London, SW1P 3NB. Tel: (020) 7222 7999

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